Don't Tell Me What I Can't Do
by FrodoFever
Summary: Charlie feels defeated when Shannon ignores him after he caught his fish for her and feels betrayed. Will Charlie find love and romance on this deserted, forsaken island? Can't do summaries, R&R, please, thanks much.
1. Chapter One

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter One

Charlie kicked the sand as he walked in anger. He couldn't believe that he blew it with Shannon. Or more likely, Shannon blew it with him. Actually, "blew" wasn't the word that he wanted to use right here. The word was more like "traitor" or "liar". Why did she have to do that to him?

He finally collapsed onto a sand dune and placed his head into his hands. Why did he always have to trust the women? Charlie always gave one more chance to see if the next woman would be his forever as long as he lived and who wouldn't leave after several months after being married to the bass guitarist of Drive Shaft. It always happened that way—a famous person fell in love and then the person that they fall in love with treats them like dirt.

Charlie slowly raised his head and wiped his nose on the sleeve of his sweater. It wasn't very good manners, but who has any manners on a savage island? Definitely not him, at least he didn't think he had any.

As he sat staring aimlessly out into the ocean, he heard somebody walking across the sand towards him. Charlie didn't want to know who it was, he was pretty sure that the person would speak up sooner or later or they wouldn't have made the effort to follow him. As the person sat down, Charlie barely glanced at who it was, but he could tell that it was a female. He hoped that it wasn't Shannon.

"Charlie, are you okay?" It was Kate. Charlie inwardly groaned, he didn't really want to talk to Kate, though she seemed pretty hard core and down-to-earth.

Charlie shook his head. "Don't worry about me, I'm fine. I'll just be fine."

"OK, if you say so, Charlie. Oh, and by the way, I think your band is one of the best. I even have one of your CDs," Kate commented.

Charlie's eyes brightened when he heard this. "Really? Yes, Drive Shaft's the best out there. We're going to be the best next to the Beatles." He loved it when he could talk about his band for the band was his life and he couldn't think of any other life.

Kate laughed. "The best second only to the Beatles? That's a pretty hard title to live up to, if you get my meaning."

"It kind of is, but I think Drift Shaft's going to make it. I really want it to," Charlie smiled, encouraged by Kate's words.

"You know what Locke said when I said he couldn't go after that boar all by himself while I was helping Michael?" Kate asked.

Charlie shook his head. "No, what did he say?"

"Don't tell me what I can't do," Kate said.

"Those are some pretty powerful words, I wonder what he meant by them?" Charlie wondered.

Kate shrugged. "Exactly what the words mean. I guess he had a lot of experiences in his life where people said he couldn't do something. I guess I'm trying to give some words of encouragement."

Charlie smiled. "They helped."

The silence between was comfortable. As Charlie gazed aimlessly at Kate, he felt himself becoming attracted to her. The way the sun glinted off of her hair and the shadows and light playing around her face. The radiant glow of her as a whole...

"So what ARE you doing out here by yourself?" Kate asked.

Charlie quickly sobered and felt his anger and irritation rise. Why did she have to jolt everybody back to the present? Nobody liked that kind of stuff when they were trying to think of something else to keep their minds off of their troubles.

"What's it to you?" Charlie asked irritably.

"I was only asking, Charlie. You don't have to get all mad about it," Kate said.

"Oh, ok, you think that, Kate. I've had a traumatic experience here and I would really like to be by myself here," Charlie snapped.

"We've all had a traumatic experience, maybe if we'd just talk about it—" Kate exclaimed.

"Well, maybe I don't want to talk about it," Charlie stated, standing up. "You don't understand, nobody understands. I'm going back to camp now."

Charlie started back for the camp with Kate calling after him, but Charlie ignored her callings. He didn't care whether she wanted to know how he felt or not. But seriously, nobody knew how he felt about anything.


	2. Chapter Two

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Two

Kate watched Charlie go with sadness in her eyes. Everybody seemed to be getting a little moody around here, though she didn't blame anybody. This really wasn't an ideal place to be. But to Kate, this was a little better than running from the law.

Kate got up and walked back towards camp, thinking about Charlie. She felt sorry for the guy and she wished she could do something for him, but she felt she couldn't love the guy. He was too uptight and self-centered. But he might be good as a friend, one could never know.

As she walked into camp, she began looking for Jack. For some reason, Kate could connect with the doctor, as if nothing could ever go wrong if she was around him and not to mention that he was cute. But she shouldn't be thinking of people here like that, after all, once they were rescued, they'd all be going back to their normal lives and going about their business. And once they got rescued, Kate would probably be in jail, serving her time.

"Kate!" Sayid's voice rang out across the camp. Kate stopped walking and waited as the man jogged up to her.

"What is it?" Kate asked.

"I was wondering if you'd help me with the transmitter," Sayid stated.

"Sorry, I'm not good at that kind of stuff. And anyways, I need to find Jack. I, uh, I'm not feeling well," Kate ended lamely.

Sayid's face fell. "Well, if you're not feeling well, by all means go see Jack. I wouldn't want you to get sick and, well, you know."

Kate nodded. "But if you ever get the transmitter fixed, I'll be happy to go with you to see if we can find the place where that message was playing for sixteen years."

"Yeah, maybe. I'll see you if I want to do that," Sayid said.

"Ok, you do that," Kate said and turned from Sayid and began to walk towards the tent where Jack was seen the most. It was the sick tent, where if somebody got hurt, then they could go there. Jack always seemed to want to keep everything in order.

As Kate approached the tent, she saw Jack sitting on a tree stump in front of the place, whittling on a piece of wood. Jack glanced up as Kate approached.

"You alright there, Kate?" he asked as she sat down on a log next to him.

"Yeah, I guess. What are you doing?" Kate asked.

Jack shrugged. "Nothing. Just whittling nothing in particular and thinking about everything that's happened."

Kate nodded. "Yeah, a lot HAS happened lately. You think we'll get rescued?"

Jack didn't answer right away. Kate wondered if he had even heard the question. Sometimes she wondered about other people sometimes. They're habits confused her and that was no joke.

"I don't know if we'll be rescued any time soon or not. Until then, we have to survive the best we can until they find us," Jack said suddenly, startling Kate. "Did I scare you? I'm sorry."

"No, you're alright," Kate said, calming down. "What if they don't find us?"

"Well, then I guess we're screwed, right?"

"I guess. It's a little better here, I guess. I never liked being among others," Kate said.

"Why because of whatever you did?" Jack asked.

Kate nodded. Jack gave her an encouraging smile and Kate couldn't help but smile back. The doctor had that kind of effect on her. Maybe she WAS falling in love with the man.

"Is there anything else you've been wanting to talk about? I don't think you came here to just talk about that, considering it's general knowledge," Jack said.

"Yeah, a little bit. I'm worried about Charlie," Kate replied.

"Charlie? Why would you be worried about Charlie for?" Jack asked.

"Well, he seems a little down in the dumps for some reason," Kate stated.

"Well, aren't we all a little down in the dumps?" Jack said jokingly.

Kate gave him a look. "Give me a break. I mean, he's been down in the dumps more than usual, and it's not because of the crash and us being stranded. He seems right down and depressed about something, like somebody said something to him and it got him depressed. Maybe it's because nobody's recognizing him from his band or whatever."

Jack sobered. "Maybe, anything's possible, you know. I'll go have a talk with him. Sometimes men are more comfortable with talking to other men about their problems."

Kate nodded. "That makes sense. When I asked him what was wrong, he just kind of got irritated and angry."

"I'll have a talk with him, don't worry about it too much, will you Kate?" Jack exclaimed.

"Oh, I won't. Thanks for hearing me out, doctor," Kate said, standing up.

"Don't worry about it, and please, call me Jack. Doctor makes me feel like I'm part of the elite and everybody should treat me like the president of the United States," Jack stated.

"Ok, Jack," Kate said, smiling.

"Now if you need anything, just let me know."

"I'm sure I will." Kate turned and started walking back, towards the fire where everybody else was beginning to build for the little lunch that they will eat.

A/n: Thanks to those who've reviewed this story, I greatly appreciate the reviews and I'm glad you like the story so far. Please continue reading, I'm sure you'll enjoy it more as the story goes on.

Midnight Dove- Thanks! He did look kind of sad and down in the dumps. Poor Charlie—he's one of my favorites, too.

Erindi-Thanks much! The pregnant woman's name is Claire. If you want a Lost website, one's if you want to look at characters, the actors, whatever. And your looking at a future writer, so don't be too sure what you see in this story is what you're getting. Surprise is a good skill wink

Kristin-Thanks! I'm glad you like the story so far. Yeah, it gets kind of confusing if you missed an episode, but I'm sure you'll figure it out in the next episode because they have a flashback of what happened last time in case you forgot. Who knows, but thanks again.

Szhismine- Thanks! Yeah, Shannon's kind...self-centered and snotty and thinks she special just because she's rich. But Charlie can find somebody better than her, laugh out loud. Thanks again.


	3. Chapter Three

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Three

As Kate disappeared through the encampment, Jack threw his stick into the brush and placing his pocketknife into his pocket before heading out to look for Charlie. Why did everybody have to come to him for every little disaster? He didn't mind, but he particularly didn't like being the big commander-in-chief of the island.

As Jack walked the beach line, he caught a figure standing at the edge of the water, staring at nothing in particular and letting the water break against their legs. As Jack approached, he wondered why people would let their clothes get degraded when it was the only pair they had until they were rescued.

As he got closer, Jack saw that it was Charlie, the guy he was looking for. That could be a good or bad thing, considering the circumstances. Charlie needed somebody to talk to, but Jack wasn't qualified as a therapist, but it sure looked like he was learning fast while he was on this island.

Jack stood quietly next to Charlie, observing the down and depressed guy. He didn't know what was wrong, but Jack hoped he could help the guy. Like the saying went, one bad apple ruined the lot.

"I bet Kate sent you over here to see what was wrong with me, didn't she?" Charlie asked, startlingly Jack.

"Well...yes," Jack said carefully, "but truth to the matter is, we're both worried about you and maybe if you'll talk about it, it'll help you and won't make everybody worried, also."

"You wouldn't understand, nobody does," Charlie stated.

"You don't know that. Hey, we're both young men here, at the prime of our lives, I'm sure we both have had the same experiences," Jack said.

"Nobody's had the same experiences as I have. Not many know what it's like to be famous and in a great band," Charlie commented.

"Maybe not, but you're still human, aren't you? All humans have the same things going against them and if you talk about your problems, there will be at least one person bound to understand what you're going through. Believe me, I know," Jack said.

"I don't really wanna talk about it," Charlie said.

"Why, you wanna build up your anger and self pity until one more thing becomes one more too much? That's not the way to be, dude," Jack exclaimed.

"You're just looking at me as another patient—just one more person to help save and will pass out your life and will never see again," Charlie stated.

Jack gritted his teeth. This was going to be harder than it looked, it always happened liked that, nobody he ever tried to help made life simple for him. Sometimes he wondered why he got into doctoring, he got so frustrated sometimes. Maybe it was because of the outcomes. The outcomes were always so well worth it because you sweated and went nuts to get there and went it came, it was always a relief and happy.

"That's really not true. I like you as a person, Charlie. I think it would be cool if we could be friends or something that'll come out of this. You know what I mean?" Jack said.

Charlie nodded. "I guess so."

"So are you going to tell me what's bugging you to insanity?" Jack asked.

Charlie smiled slightly at Jack's attempt to be funny and Jack couldn't help but smile back. That was a start for sure, if Charlie could smile. Maybe Jack wasn't so bad as a therapist even though he didn't have the degree for it.

"Well, it's kind of about Shannon," Charlie said.

Jack inwardly groaned. Everybody was worrying and carrying on about everybody else on this island. It was like they couldn't get enough drama to satisfy themselves. What did he ever get himself into?

"Yeah, what about Shannon?" Jack asked.

"Well, earlier she came to me and asked if I knew how to fish and I told her that I used to fish with my grandpa back in the day. She then said if I'd help her fish. Well, it ended up that I went fishing by myself with just Hurley and we had ourselves a blast," Charlie began.

Jack nodded to show that he was listening. He hoped this long, drawn out story coming from Charlie didn't end in something really stupid.

"Well, I managed to catch this huge fish," Charlie continued, gesturing with his hands, "and then I went back to shore and when I saw Shannon, I went up to her and gave her the fish and I felt really proud when she praised me."

"Don't we all when someone does that?" Jack inquired.

"Yeah, but I'm not finished yet. Then Shannon calls her brother Boone over and tells him about the fish I caught her and then Boone says 'Why are you taking stuff from this poor guy?' and he takes the fish out of her hands and hands it to me and walks off. Then Shannon takes the fish out of my hands and follows after her brother saying, 'Aren't you proud of the fish that I caught?' I know I caught that fish and she just ignored me and acted like I was inferior when her brother was around," Charlie finished.

Jack sighed. "I wouldn't worry about her, Charlie. She's a rich snob who doesn't think about anybody but herself. You'll do good to not being around her."

"But she humiliated me in front of her brother!" Charlie exclaimed.

"But she doesn't have anything better to do than get a tan and get jealous at other people who work to make an honest living. She's just jealous that you can catch a fish and she can't," Jack pointed out.

"But I have to be around her until we get rescued. What do I do about her then?" Charlie asked.

"Just try not to take too much crap from her because nobody needs that. She'll learn sooner or later that life isn't all peaches and cream and that she'll have to do SOME work around here to earn her keep," Jack stated firmly.

"OK, if you say so," Charlie said before walking away. After walking a little ways off, Charlie turned back around to face Jack. "Thanks for talking with me. I know you didn't want to do this, but you wanted me to feel better and I appreciate your caring. I didn't really want to talk to you, either, but I feel better now."

Jack gave a wide smile. "Oh, it was no problem. Listen; if you ever need an ear to talk to, you can always count on me. I wouldn't mind being in your company. Friends are the best medicine."

Charlie nodded and smiled back. "I'll consider that the next time I feel like talking." He turned and continued on his solo walk.

Jack watched him disappear into the distance before turning around and heading back towards his medical tent. His mission was accomplished and he felt exhilarated from the experience. So not everything was that down and depressed on this island. There was still room for a ray of hope.


	4. Chapter Four

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Four

Charlie raced up towards Kate that evening, feeling very happy. After his talk with Jack, he was feeling extremely optimistic about everything. He felt he could take over the mountain with Kate. He hoped that she was the one, because personally, he was falling fast in love with her and hoped that with his skills he could make her do the same with him.

He skidded to a stop in front of Kate, panting slightly, for he had been jogging down the beach, trying to keep his figure. He felt like every bone in his body was aching, but he felt proud. He was in his 20's and was in a fairly good shape. Maybe he should stop his drug addiction... Charlie shook his head. He'll do that once he ran out of his drugs. Without any drugs left, maybe he'd be able to beat his addiction.

Kate looked up at Charlie, amused. "What're you tryin' to do, run the marathon?"

"I think I just might do that when I get back home, you never know," Charlie said smiling. "Can I sit with you?"

Kate scooted over, inviting him to sit next to her. Charlie smiled at her and took the offer by sitting down. Kate smiled back before looking into the fire again.

All at once, Charlie felt shy. He always froze up when he was around somebody that he liked really well. The worst she could say would be no, but it still made Charlie nervous and he didn't think he could get the courage to ask her out, no matter what their circumstances are on this island.

Kate glanced over at Charlie. "Are you alright there?"

Charlie nodded somewhat unconvincingly. He didn't want to ask her out just yet. There was plenty of time to do that and it wasn't like she was going to go and date somebody else here on the island. The other guys weren't all that great...well, except maybe Sayid and Jack, but that was beside the point. The point was that dating probably wasn't a top priority in a situation like this. Maybe, one could never know.

"I'm alright. I've always been alright," Charlie stated.

"Really?" Kate looked over at Charlie, not looking very convinced.

"Really. I'm all right; don't worry about me. I've got everything figured out with Jack," Charlie assured her.

"That's not what I meant, Charlie," Katie said.

"Maybe not, but I'm all right," Charlie exclaimed.

Suddenly Charlie felt wary. What if somebody found out that he used drugs? Shannon almost did the other day when she came to ask him about fishing, but he didn't get caught, which was a good thing. After all, he was going to quit after he ran out of his small stock. That was the only way; after all of his known stock of drugs run out and knowing that he ran out, he'll be able to quit. Hopefully, but he knew he'd be able to quit.

As Charlie and Kate sat staring into the fire, Jack came over after doing whatever he was doing. Charlie scooted over so the doctor could sit next to him.

"Hi, Jack," Charlie said as the man sat down.

"Hi. How's it going with you, man?" Jack asked.

"Not bad, considering the circumstances," Charlie replied, smiling slightly.

"I'm glad to hear that. You didn't seem all that great earlier today," Jack exclaimed.

Charlie shook his head. "No, but life is great. I can survive anything."

Silence elapsed as they watched the slow cooking of fish on the fire that Michael was cooking up. They all found out that he was a good cooker, considering him being a bachelor and had to do all the feminine stuff on his own.

Charlie was glad that somebody could cook, because he sure couldn't. Well, he could cook well enough for him to survive on, but he didn't think anybody else would appreciate it too well if they ate their food that it didn't taste as normal as it should've been.

"Are you sure you're all right, Charlie?" Kate asked.

"Well...um..." Charlie began, trying to find the words to ask her out. He decided that it was now or never. He might not get the courage to ask her again after this.

Just as he was about to ask her, Walt came bounding into the fireplace area.

"Vincent and I were playing hide and seek and I can't find him, dad," Walt exclaimed.

"I'll go help you look for him," Charlie said, standing up a little too quickly. "I love hide-and-seek. And we're looking for Vincent the dog?"

"Yeah, that's my dog. I always find him, but he's in an extra good spot tonight," Walt said.

"Walt, go look for Vincent yourself. Don't trouble this man with your problems," Michael said.

"Oh, don't worry, it's no problem at all. I think it's good to have a little exercise worked into your schedule," Charlie said as he glanced at Kate out of the corner of his eye. She seemed to have apprehension written all over her face, but he didn't care what she thought at the moment.

"Well, thanks for helping out with him," Michael called after him as Charlie and Walt left to look for Vincent.

"Oh, it's no problem!" Charlie called over his shoulder. Then he turned and followed Walt into the darkness, hoping against hope that he'd have another chance to ask Kate about dating.

A/n: A little short chapter, but that's ok. I don't have much time to write a drawn out chapter for this chapter. Anyways. If you ask me, I think the show 'Lost' is getting pretty intriguing, wouldn't you say? I mean, Jack thinking his dad's alive, Jack becoming the leader, Claire passing out, Charlie falling for Claire (maybe, perhaps...), and the possibility of them going to some valley next episode. I personally think it's getting quote interesting, and I'm getting more intrigued by each episode. But I'll stop jibbering now.

Thank you to those who've been reviewing my story, I greatly appreciate it and I hope you keep reading though I might not be updating much during the week considering I have school and homework and a job to go to sometimes. So I extend my heartfelt thanks -.


	5. Chapter Five

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Five

"So where do you think he ran off to?" Charlie asked as he jogged lightly behind his quick, younger companion.

"I don't know, that's why you call it hide and go seek," Walt stated, "the person or animal you're looking for is hiding and you go and seek them."

"That makes sense," Charlie said, feeling very stupid about asking the kid about that. He couldn't remember the last time he played hide and go seek. It seemed like forever when it was only a short time ago that he was an extremely small kid.

As they got closer the edge of the forest, Charlie began hesitating. Was it really worth going in there, risking their lives against the evils of the forest for a dog? And what would Michael say if he found out that Charlie let Walt lead him into the forest and Walt got hurt? He couldn't risk that; he didn't really feel like confronting a polar bear and whatever else was in there.

"Uh, Walt? I don't think this is a good idea to be going in there in the dark. There's kind of a bunch of stuff in there that I don't fancy meeting there in the dead of night," Charlie said, looking hesitantly around him.

Walt turned around and put his hands on his hips, glaring at him and Charlie shifted uncomfortably. Why did kids have to have that effect on people? It wasn't a very warm and fuzzy feeling to experience when kids glared at you. At least to Charlie, who didn't hang around kids too much unless it was some freaked out 14 year-old wanting an autograph, which he didn't mind doing too much.

"I thought you wanted to help me find Vincent," Walt said accusingly.

"I do, but if it comes to coming near those trees in the middle of the night, I'm out of here," Charlie said.

"Oh, come on. Don't be a scaredy cat. I thought you were part of a band. They're not supposed to be scared of anything," Walt exclaimed.

"They're not," Charlie said. "I just don't like the forest at night, especially this forest. You get me, kid?"

"Yeah, I get you, I—" Walt began, but suddenly a loud noise droned him out.

Charlie looked about quickly. He hoped that it wasn't anything too terrible. But in his heart, he knew it WAS something terrible. He had to get him and Walt out of here, back to the camp; nothing was safe here.

"What was that?" Walt asked, fear showing in his voice.

Charlie looked about him. "I don't know what it is, but I think it'd be a good idea if we went back to the camp now. I don't really want to know what that thing was."

"But what about Vincent? I can't leave him out here for that monster," Walt exclaimed.

"Hey, kid, Vincent's a dog. He can take care of himself. Animals have that special instinct to know when danger's around. He'll know to come back," Charlie assured him, grabbing the boy by the arm and started dragging him back towards the camp.

Walt began struggling against Charlie's grip. "You can't make me go anywhere! I want to look for Vincent! Get off me!"

"No, I won't get off you! We have to get back," Charlie said, starting to panic. He didn't want to be out here away from the fire, away from everybody else. He didn't think a grown man with a boy without any kind of defense was safe to be out here alone.

Just then, something started whining softly near them. Charlie whirled around, scared out of his wits. Was that the monster that everybody's been hearing around here?

"It's Vincent!" Walt cried out. He knelt to the ground. "Come here, Vincent, come here old boy."

The dog trotted over to Walt happily wagging his tail. The boy and dog had a few moments of happy reunion before Charlie grabbed Walt's arm and began leading him towards the camp with Vincent following in tow.

"We've gotta get out of here. It doesn't feel right around here," Charlie said.

"It never was," Walt said softly.

"What did you say?" Charlie asked, not believing his ears.

"I said it never was," Walt said a little louder. "It's always been weird around here because everybody's been acting weird. I don't know, maybe it's because we all don't know each other, so we all act different around each other."

"Yeah. Yeah, that's it," Charlie said, wondering if what he had said had any meaning.

As they came into camp, Michael rushed over to the two of them. "There you two are! I was getting worried about you, especially the past five minutes. I don't want you to go out there ever again after dark, do you hear me, Walt?"

"I understand, Dad, but I had to find Vincent, can't you understand that?" Walt stated.

"Yes, but Vincent's a dog, Walt. He has those animal instincts and he can take care of himself and come back when he senses danger. Next time he runs off, don't follow after him if it's dark," Michael scolded.

Walt sighed. "Yes, sir."

"Personally, I don't think you should be hard on the boy, Michael," Charlie said.

Michael turned to face Charlie. "Are you telling me how to raise my son, man?"

"No, I'm not trying to interfere or anything, but personally I think—" Charlie began.

"You think nothing. Walt's my son and I don't appreciate you trying to interfere," Michael said. "Do we understand?"

"Yeah, sure," Charlie said, wondering why Michael was acting mean and angry all of a sudden. Charlie always thought that Michael was an even-tempered man until now.

That night, Charlie fell asleep on his bed of leaves thinking about how people could change their attitudes in the blink of an eye. He hoped he'd never be that kind of person.

A/n: Once again, a warm thank you to all of those who have been reviewing, I've greatly appreciated it. This chapter was a little bit longer to make up for the last chapter. I hope you people are satisfied for the moment, laugh out loud.

To those who've been saying that they don't like the Kate/Charlie pairing, I ask of you to not jump into conclusions just yet. I like to say that a good story gives you suspense and gives you the unexpected—something that you didn't think the author would do. So don't jump to conclusions just yet, I might just change it to Claire/Charlie. You never know.

One last thing before I let you all people get back to you're your busy lives; I've got to ask you all a favor. This coming Wednesday (October 27) I have to work from 5:30 to 8:30 P.M. and that means I have to miss half of 'Lost'. So I'm asking you all a favor of reviewing the next chapter that I update for this story at the time and tell me what happens. I would greatly appreciate it and I'll be extra nice and try to update more chapters after Wednesday on the weekend or something. If you do that, you won't know how much I'll thank yeh, I haven't missed an episode since the premiere (and I've watched the first one since because of those helpful Encore stuff). Well, I'll stop talking know, and I promise you I won't have a long author's note next time or get back to my no author's note for a couple of entries.


	6. Chapter Six

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Six

Michael sat looking up at the stars, contemplating. He was wondering why he had been harsh to Charlie, he never did anything wrong to his son—or him as a matter of fact. Walt—Michael needed to spend more time with the boy. After all, Walt WAS his son and Michael wasn't being a very good father, he realized that he hadn't been in Walt's life very much in the past few years.

He could remember his own childhood. His own father wasn't around much and Michael never knew when his father was coming back. Michael was told that leaving was for everybody's good, that Michael would have a future if his father left to do his business. But as Michael thought back to his childhood days, he realized that it wasn't the money that he had really wanted, it didn't matter that whether they were rich or barely making it to make scratch. It was his father that he wanted and nothing in the world could replace the father.

"Michael?"

Michael glanced up to see Kate standing above him. Michael smiled and motioned her to sit next to him. Any company was welcome.

"You doing alright?" Kate asked as she sat down.

"Yeah, I'm doing great. How about you?" Michael said.

"Doing ok. Are you sure you're OK? That wasn't too good earlier with your bout with Charlie," Kate stated.

"No, it wasn't. I don't know what had gotten into me. I've never been sharp to anybody so much as I did to Charlie," Michael said.

"You do to Walt sometimes."

Michael sighed. "I know and I'm sorry for that. I'm going to try and be a better father towards him. I wasn't around much when he was younger. And if I don't become a part of his life now, he'll grow up and leave before I know it."

"That's the way to go, Michael," Kate said, smiling.

Michael smiled back. "You always look on the bright side. You and Claire do, always."

Kate shrugged. "It helps boost everybody's morale. Anything to help."

"That's a might tough job that you're trying to run."

Kate smiled. "Yeah, I guess so. But I can manage it. And it helps me keep up my own morale because it makes me happy to see the others smile when I help them."

The silence between them soon elapsed and nothing was heard except for a couple of people snoring, the crickets chirping, and all the normal night sounds. Michael never felt so much at peace than right now, but he knew that it wouldn't last long because he knew that tomorrow would be back to the old grind. Trying to survive with little supplies to survive on. Now he knew that he took everything back home for granted and never realized how much he depended on everything. Just then, Michael thought of something.

"Do you like Charlie?" Michael asked.

Kate glanced at Michael, surprised. "Why do you ask that for?"

Michael shrugged. "He's always hanging around you. I thought you two might have something going on between you."

"No. I don't like him like that. I like—" Kate trailed off.

"You like...?" Michael insisted.

"Nobody. I don't like anybody here more than a friend. That's all. I don't know why Charlie's hanging around me. I think he likes me, but I don't like him like that. I'll have to talk to him about that," Kate said.

"Whatever floats your boat," Michael stated.

"Yeah, well. We better get some sleep; we have a long day ahead of tomorrow. We have to gather food and find water, remember?" Kate said.

"Sure," Michael said and he fell back and soon he fell into a dreamless sleep.


	7. Chapter Seven

/I don't anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Seven

Charlie was mad, really mad. Actually, he was more upset than angry at the moment, but he knew he was feeling angry at the moment as well as being upset. It was about Kate and Charlie knew he should've seen it coming, but he didn't. Yesterday, several days after the incident of chasing after Walt's dog, Charlie got the courage to ask Kate if she would go out with him. Charlie felt a pang inside his chest as he remembered those painful few moments...

"I'm sorry, Charlie, but I can't be a part of a relationship right now," Kate said.

"But why not? It's not like we're going to be rescued any time soon and this will be like our way of living for a long time," Charlie persisted, not wanting to believe what Kate had just told him.

"No, I can't, Charlie. I'm really sorry about all of this, but I can't go out with you," Kate said again.

"But why, Kate? I thought we had something going on here. I thought we were friends and I just thought that we could get something out of this," Charlie exclaimed.

"Well, I'm already in a bind, Charlie. I'm already in love with somebody else and unless I get my heart back from him, I can't see myself being with somebody else. It's just that simple," Kate said.

"But Kate—" Charlie began.

"Don't 'But Kate' me, Charlie," Kate stated. "I don't want to go out with you and I don't want to hear anything more about it. I just don't have time for it."

Charlie felt his heart sinking as he watched Kate walk away from him, wishing he had never acted so stupid just now...

"Charlie?"

Charlie looked up from his reverie and saw Jack coming towards him.

"Are you alright?" Jack asked.

"I'm doing fine. What do you need?" Charlie asked.

"I just need somebody to go and sit with Claire to keep her company. She would probably love you to talk with her," Jack said.

"I don't really feel like talking to her at the moment," Charlie said.

"Can't you please, Charlie? I'm depending on you and nobody else can do this," Jack insisted.

Charlie sighed. "Fine, I'll do it just this once, but after this I'm not going to be doing anymore favors of the sort."

"Thanks," Jack said distractedly as he turned and headed off towards another direction.

Charlie looked after him and shook his head. Jack had been acting weird lately, and the guy seemed like he hadn't had any sleep for several days. But what Jack did with his life, Charlie didn't care because that was Jack's life and not his.

Charlie walked quietly towards the tree that Claire was lying under. As he came closer, he saw that she was lying on her back, asleep. Charlie decided that this was stupid and that he shouldn't bug Claire while she was sleeping, but he had made his promise.

As he came closer, Claire woke up slightly.

"Hey, Claire, love," Charlie said softly as he came closer.

"Charlie? How long has it been?" Claire asked.

"Several hours. We would've gotten you some water if somebody hadn't stolen it," Charlie said, grabbing a stick and breaking it in half...

Several hours later, Charlie was walking down the beach, looking for Jack since nobody had seen him all day. While he was searching, Charlie thought about Claire. The girl was beautiful, she was going to have a baby and it didn't look like the father was going to be around much for the little one.

Charlie mentally slapped himself. Why was he thinking about somebody else immediately after being put down by somebody else? He had no life and Charlie hated himself for it.

Suddenly he had an idea. Maybe he could talk with Sayid. He always told the cold faced truth about stuff and was always trying to help out. And it seemed that the man was becoming softer hearted about stuff, yet Charlie didn't know why.

Charlie turned and jogged lightly up the beach towards the camp. As he came closer, he saw that Sayid was working on the transmission device again. Charlie didn't know how the man did it, because Charlie could barely understand his math when he studied it in school.

"Charlie," Sayid said when Charlie came towards him and sat down.

"Sayid. How are ya doin'? You always seem to be working on that transmitter thing," Charlie said.

"Well, I think it would help if we had this transmitter working, wouldn't you say? I personally want to get off this island. What do you think?" Sayid asked, completely missing Charlie's question of courtesy.

"Yeah, I wouldn't mind getting off this place, either. It gives me the serious creeps and it's a wonder nobody's figured this place out before," Charlie commented.

"They probably were, but they kind of died, wouldn't you say?" Sayid stated.

Charlie nodded. "Good point."

The two of them fell silent, Charlie staring absentmindedly at Sayid working on the transmitter. It was crazy that there were a million little wires and contraptions that made up one device to make the whole thing work.

"So what brings you up here to talk to me, Charlie?" Sayid asked, breaking the silence.

"Not a whole lot. I WAS looking for Jack, seeing where he went off to, but that hasn't turned out too well. And I was thinking about something else," Charlie said truthfully.

"What else were you thinking about?" Sayid asked.

"Well, Kate kind of put me off when I asked if she wanted to get into a relationship with me," Charlie said.

"Who wouldn't on this island?"

"Well, that's true, but I was really starting to like her and she just put me down. Then when Jack asked me to keep Claire company while he went off into the oblivion, I was starting to fall for her and I don't know what to do now," Charlie stated.

"Well, I would say go for it, Charlie. If I didn't with the girl I loved, I wouldn't have had the joy and love that I felt for her and it wouldn't have kept me going here on this island if it weren't for her," Sayid said.

"Who's the girl?" Charlie asked.

"You wouldn't know her, but here," Sayid pulled out an envelope and tossed it gently towards Charlie.

Charlie grabbed the envelope and opened the lid, pulling out the pictures that were in the envelope and started looking at them.

"Wow. She's beautiful," Charlie exclaimed, putting the pictures back into the envelope and handing it back to Sayid.

"Don't I know it. I miss her every day of my life while I'm here," Sayid said.

"I hope you get to see her again," Charlie said.

"Me too," Sayid said, "me too."

"Well, I better get going. I'm not doing any good just sitting here," Charlie stated, standing up.

Sayid nodded. "And don't forget to take that chance with Claire. You never know if you don't go after her."

Charlie nodded and smiled. "Thanks for the advice."

Sayid nodded and quickly returned to his transmission work. Charlie turned and started walking away along the beach, hoping to find Jack and his hopes raised for Claire. He hoped that she would take him for who he was.

A/n: Sorry for not updating. Went trick or treating last night and had a blast. For all of you all who went trick or treating last night, I hope you all had fun, too. And happy Halloween, today's the true Halloween. For anyone who wants to know, I was Samara from 'The Ring' and it was a blast. By the way, has anyone seen Thirteen Ghosts? That's a freaky movie.

Anyways, thanks for all who have reviewed the past week or so and I hope you continue reading. I somewhat know what happened last episode, but I'm still in the dark; so if anyone watched it, educate me, please. And once again I'll have to miss next episode, part of it, which sucks. I'll quit talking now, happy reading to you all.


	8. Chapter Eight

/I don't own anything in this story. /

Chapter Eight

Looking back, it seemed like torture not having his drugs. Charlie felt like he was going to die without his drugs, but tonight, it was all over with. He defeated the evil and it felt so good. It was almost impossible, but there it was.

"Charlie, can I talk to you?"

Charlie looked up and smiled at Claire. "Sure can. You know you're more than welcome than to hang out around me."

Claire smiled and sat down next to Charlie. "I should've known that, you were always so nice to me on the beach."

"Of course, it's because I like you, Claire and I don't want anything to happen to you," Charlie responded.

Claire smiled at him and Charlie felt his heart melt. He couldn't believe he was actually falling for somebody and he hoped that this time everything would work out.

"This place is amazing. I can't believe Jack found this place," Claire stated.

"I can't either. He's a pretty amazing guy," Charlie agreed.

Claire looked at Charlie curiously. "Are you alright there, Charlie?"

Charlie grinned and nodded. How many people were going to ask him that? That was the drawback of getting away from drugs; everybody knew something was wrong with you because you went through withdrawals.

"I'm fine, I'm just a little sick right now," Charlie replied.

"Well, I would be, too, if I went through a whole cave in thing while you were still inside," Claire said. "Or at least, that's what people told me when I got here."

"Why did you come here?" Charlie asked.

"Because I figured I might need the doctor if my baby decides it wants to come," Claire said, smiling. "And anyways, who would want to be away from you?"

Charlie felt a warm glow inside him and couldn't believe that one of the most beautiful girls on the island just said that to him. And Charlie was sure that Claire meant what she said because she was one of those people who wouldn't tell a lie and was truthful.

"So how is the baby?" Charlie asked, changing the subject away from him. He got embarrassed when people fussed over him.

"I think he's doing alright. I think he's a boy, at least," Claire laughed.

"Well, I hope it's a boy, too. You look like one of those people who could take on a little baby boy," Charlie said, smiling.

"I hope you're right," Claire said.

Claire looked closer at Charlie and her eyes widened. Charlie started to panic. What was she doing?

"Where did you get those welts? Did you get stung by a bee or something?" Claire asked.

"Several bees, actually. I'm allergic to bees, as a matter of fact. These things itch like heck, I'm telling you," Charlie said.

"Oh, you poor baby. Did you put water on them?" Claire asked.

Charlie shook his head. "No, should I?"

"It won't make the welts go away, but cold water will make them feel better. Here, I'll go and get some for you," Claire stated, getting up and headed towards the spring.

Charlie shook his head. This couldn't be happening. Claire was actually telling him what he should do and trying to make him feel better. No other girl had ever done for him only, other than Charlie's brother's wife, but she was doing that out of pure charity.

Claire came back with a wet cloth and began dabbing Charlie's welts. As the water touched the welts, Charlie felt somewhat better and it seemed that his stings seemed to lesson in their stings and itching.

Claire brushed back Charlie's hair as she began dabbing the stings on his face. As she did this, Charlie felt his heart racing. This was as close as the girl ever got to him and Charlie was nervous about it.

"Well, I would say that you got the heart and stone of it when you got stung," Claire commented.

"Yeah...yeah, I did," Charlie said heavily. She was getting close, way to close and he was tempted to kiss her, but he kept himself in check.

Claire smiled at Charlie warmly. "Are you checking me out there?"

"Why would I be...I mean, yeah, I was checking you out. I think you're one of the most beautiful girls I've ever laid my eyes on before," Charlie stammered.

Claire laughed and Charlie grinned foolishly. He mentally slapped himself. He wasn't being serious in this situation. He had to get a hold of himself; Claire probably didn't want him and would probably go back to her boyfriend after they got off of this island.

"Well, I think you deserve a kiss for being truthful and being so nice to me," Claire said.

"No, Claire, really, I don't deserve—" Charlie began, but didn't get to finish because Claire bent down and kissed him gently on the lips.

After a few moments, Claire pulled away and Charlie stared at her in awe. Claire smiled at him and pushed his hair back.

"Did that make you feel better, Charlie?" Claire asked.

Charlie nodded. "Yeah, it did. Thanks for that refreshment, Claire."

"Don't flatter me, Charlie, I don't deserve it."

"You do more than you realize," Charlie exclaimed before he realized what he said.

"Yeah, well. I think you better go and get some rest, Charlie. I'm sure the others will be wanting you to do some heavy work tomorrow and you'll need all the strength you can get," Claire said.

Charlie nodded and stood up and headed towards the new encampment, his heart and hope rising about the clouds. He never have felt happier since the crash and hoped this would continue for a few more days. Charlie fell asleep that night with happier dreams.

Author's Note: Here's chapter eight for you all. I hope you're enjoying the story so far. Sorry for not updating lately, but I've been busy lately. And yes, I managed to watch the encore thing last night so I'm all caught up and I have to say it's getting more and more interesting and when this season's over with, I'm hoping that it'll go onto DVD because I wanna own it and watch it whenever I want to.

Anyways, I'm talking too much. Happy reading and I know you love reviewing -.


	9. Chapter Nine

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Nine

Claire paced thoughtfully in her new home by the spring water. She didn't know how she let Charlie persuade her to come out here when she really wanted to stay on the beach just in case help arrived. Claire always said the day she would come here would be the day that the rescue would arrive when she wasn't on the beach.

"Claire, are you alright?" Charlie asked as he came towards her.

Claire smiled brightly at him, hoping this assured the man. "Yeah, I'm fine, why do you ask?"

"You seem a little pale...a little tired," Charlie commented.

Claire silently panicked. Was it that obvious? She had a feeling that the baby was coming today, it was just one of those motherly instincts.

"I'm fine, Charlie. Don't worry about me," Claire stated, bring a false confidence.

Charlie sat down next to her and placed a hand on her shoulder. "You're not alright. Is it the baby?"

Claire decided she couldn't keep it to herself much longer and nodded. Charlie's eyes widened in surprise and began to get up, but Claire grabbed his arm. She knew whom he was going to go after and didn't want him to just yet.

"Don't get Jack just yet, Charlie," Claire said. "It's not time just yet."

"But, Claire, what if Jack goes off to do something when it comes and we haven't told him?" Charlie asked.

"No, not yet—" Claire began when Jack appeared in front of them suddenly.

"Tell me what?" Jack asked.

"Well, tell him, Claire," Charlie exclaimed.

Claire looked from one to the other, exasperated. Why did men have to be so difficult? She was grateful that Charlie was concerned, but she was a little irritated sometimes that he tried so hard.

"Is it the baby, Claire?" Jack asked.

Claire sighed and nodded. "Yes, Jack. I've been feeling sick more than usual today and I've been having pains in my stomach. I think it's coming today."

Jack sighed and went over to Claire. Claire sat up a little more, wondering what Jack was going to do now. She was beginning to wonder about doctors sometimes.

"We need to get you to someplace comfortable so you won't stress the baby," Jack told her.

"I think it's best if Charlie and I help you," Jack said.

"No, I don't need help to walk. So where are you going to put me?" Claire asked.

"Follow me," Jack said and turned to leave.

Charlie also began to follow after them, but Claire stopped him.

"I don't want you to come with me, Charlie," Claire stated. "I don't need your help for this."

"But I want to help," Charlie answered.

"Please, Charlie, not for this. Just go and do something with yourself," Claire said sharply.

Charlie watched the two of them leave, confusion and anger welling up inside him. He couldn't believe that Claire just did that to him, and he thought they were hitting it off really well. All he wanted to do was help.

Charlie spun around in anger and stormed off into the jungle. He had enough of everything and everybody. If they wanted to push him off to the side, then that's fine with him, he'll just go out into the woods by himself and take care of himself. It wasn't like he'd never taken care of himself before. He had to take care of himself all his life.

"Charlie, where you going?" Sayid called out as Charlie passed him.

"None of your business, Sayid. I'm leaving, that's all and I don't need anybody's help," Charlie called angrily behind him.

"Charlie, please, wait up," Sayid ran up to him and slowed down as he caught up. "What happened? Was it something to do with Claire?"

Charlie stopped and looked at the Iraqi. "Why should you care whether it has to do with Claire or not?"

"Because you two are always together and she must have said something to you to make you angry," Sayid stated.

Charlie sighed. "Yeah, it was something about Claire, but I don't want to talk about it, ok? She obviously likes Jack better than me if she'd rather be in his company rather than me."

Sayid laughed and Charlie suddenly felt angry. Why was this man laughing? It wasn't anything funny.

"I don't think Claire's in love with Jack, Charlie," Sayid stated. "He's more occupied with Kate and she's more occupied with you. So will you tell me what's going on?"

"OK, I saw her pacing around and she looked a little pale and agitated so I asked what was wrong and she said that she thought the baby was coming and I was going to get Jack and she said not to bring him over and all of a sudden, Jack appears and Jack wants to get Claire to be somewhere comfortable and they leave and Claire wouldn't let me go with her," Charlie burst out.

"She just doesn't want you to see her in pain, is all," Sayid commented.

"What, and I haven't seen enough pain already?" Charlie asked, agitated.

Sayid rolled his eyes. "You know what I'm talking about. Women don't like men hanging around when it comes down to that kind of stuff."

"Then how come she let Jack—" Charlie began.

"Because Jack's a doctor and can help her with the baby. Don't worry about her, she'll be fine in a few hours and she'll be perfectly happy and will have you in her good sides again," Sayid said. "Trust me."

"So she's not—" Charlie wondered.

"No, she's not," Sayid assured him. "She'll want you back as soon as everything's over with."

"I guess I'll just have to trust you, won't I?" Charlie asked.

Sayid smiled and nodded. Inwardly, he wondered about Charlie, but he didn't let himself linger on it because personally, he thought Charlie was a good guy. Charlie was one of those people who tried to help out whenever he could, but didn't seem to get the chance.

"Want to help me look for food?" Sayid asked. "I kind of got appointed to that job today and anyways it'd keep your mind off of things."

Charlie nodded and smiled. "Sure, I'll be happy to. Can we go fishing?"

"Perhaps, if we can't find anything else and if we find some plant food. We can't live off of meat, or we'll all get sick," Sayid said.

Charlie nodded in agreement and the two of them walked off together.


	10. Chapter Ten

/I don't own anything you recognize in this story. /

Chapter Ten

Claire held her newborn in her arms as she rocked him gently. She couldn't believe that it was a baby boy and Claire's mind was racing through names for him. Why did naming babies have to be so hard?

Something moved in the bushes and Claire looked up expectantly. She hoped it wasn't anybody other than Jack or Charlie who wouldn't hurt the baby and sighed with relief when Charlie appeared out of the brush.

Charlie smiled as he approached Claire and his eyes widened in delight when he saw the baby. He looked into Claire's eyes and the woman smiled gently.

"It's ok, you can come over," Claire said as Charlie approached tentatively and sat down next to Claire.

"How are you feeling?" Charlie asked.

"Tired. But I guess that's with the best of them, wouldn't you say. Isn't he beautiful?" Claire gushed.

"He's stunning. He'll be as handsome as his mother's beautiful when he gets older," Charlie complimented.

Claire blushed and a small giggle escaped her mouth. Charlie couldn't help but smile at her, everything about her was beautiful and Charlie wished he could just drink it all in.

"He will be, I'm sure. But I don't know what to name him," Claire stated.

"You can't think of a name for him? Well, we'll have to fix that up, won't we?" Charlie said.

Claire smiled and glanced down at her baby. "Yeah, I suppose so. But there are just so many names, and I don't know what to call him. I would name him after you, but that would get a little confusing, wouldn't you think if we never got off this island and he grew up here?"

Charlie grinned foolishly. "I guess so, but we're going to get rescued. I know we are. But if you don't want to name him after me that's fine with me, I feel honored though, that you would want to name your kid after me. Maybe you could have his middle name be Charles, you know?"

"You know that's a very good idea. I like that concept. But we still need a first name. It's not going to work with just a middle name," Claire said.

"Hmmm…how about Andreas? I've always loved that name, Andreas. I almost changed my name to that once," Charlie commented.

"Andreas Charles…that kind of flows," Claire said thoughtfully. "I actually kind of like it, what do you think?"

"I love it, Claire," Charlie said, smiling.

Claire gave an affirmative nod. "Well, that will be his name, then. Andreas Charles…"

Just then, Charlie noticed that somebody was missing. "Where's Jack?"

"He went down to the beach, to gather more supplies. He said I would be alright here," Claire said.

"Hey, dude," Hurley's voice called as he approached the two of them. "I've been looking for you. Jack needs you to go down to the beach to help him bring back supplies."

"But—why couldn't you have done it, or somebody else?" Charlie asked. "I mean, after all, he left Claire here alone, he can't expect me to just up and leave her here alone with Andreas."

Hurley gave a double take and his eyes fell down on Claire holding the baby in her arms. His eyes widened in surprise and his gaze went back to Charlie. Charlie just shrugged and continued his steady gaze.

"Man, another mouth to feed. This is some crazy stuff, dude. But, congratulations, Claire, I'm really happy for you. So it's a boy? Andreas is a great name for him, truly," Hurley glanced back at Charlie. "Don't worry, dude, I'll stay here with her and I can promise you that no harm will come to her."

"Are you sure? Because if I hear that something happened to Claire, I know where to point fingers to and no doubt about it," Charlie warned.

Hurley opened his arms in defense. "Have I ever looked like a guy who would hurt somebody in all the time you've known me on this island?"

"No…no, of course not, Hurley. It's just this island getting to me. Sorry, bud," Charlie apologized.

"Hey, don't worry about it, dude. Well, you better get going or Jack'll wonder where the heck you disappeared off to," Hurley said.

Charlie nodded and turned and waved at Claire. She waved back and as Charlie walked towards the beach, he had a bad feeling about leaving. It wasn't about Hurley or anything. It was just this odd, strange feeling that he wasn't going to see Claire in a long, long time.

As he walked through the forest, Charlie's senses became sharper and Charlie flinched at every sound. What was his problem, he never felt like this before when he went walking around the forest by himself here.

A bird called through the treetops and Charlie instinctively covered his head. This was getting ridiculous; he wasn't supposed to be getting scared. And anyways, it wasn't THAT far to the beach.

Suddenly a silence fell in the forest around Charlie. He looked around desperately. What was happening? He had a strange feeling that somebody was watching him, as if ready to strike. Charlie didn't like that feeling. He didn't like that feeling at all.

Something grabbed Charlie and he spun around in a panic. It was a woman, somebody that he'd never seen before. Where did she come from?

"So you're one of those people that Sayid was talking about," the woman said.

Something came towards Charlie's face before he could react and he fell down unconscious. Before the darkness took him, the last thoughts that went through Charlie's mind was how he was going to protect Claire and the baby.

Author's Note: November 25, 2004 Hi, everybody. Sorry I haven't written in a long time and I hope this long anticipated chapter's satisfied your needs.

I must say that I don't know what Claire's going to name her kid, or whether it's going to be a boy. I just randomly picked a boy and a name and there you go. And if we find out otherwise in some later episode, well, there you go, that's Claire's kid. But since we all don't know at the moment, I'm going to randomly pick like I did just for the enjoyment of this story.

Thanks to those who've been reviewing and I hope that you all continue to review because it makes me feel warm and fuzzy inside.

But anyways, I'm talking too long. I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving today and I hope you all continue to read and review.


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